Attacks on Mexican journalists on the rise in 2013

No reduction in violence during EPN's first 120 days, reports London-based press advocacy group


*Updated July 1*
Guadalajara -
Yesterday was World Press Freedom Day, but there was little to celebrate in Mexico.

In London the human rights organization Article 19, which focuses on freedom of information and expression issues, reported this week that attacks against journalists in Mexico rose 20% between January and March, compared to the same period a year ago. President Enrique Peña Nieto took office on Dec. 1, advertising a domestic security strategy focused on "reducing the violence" in Mexico.

Founded in 1987, Article 19 derives its name from the a passage in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1948. The passage states that "Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; the right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media regardless of frontiers."

Mexico is among the two or three most dangerous countries in the world for journalists, according to experts. In some areas of the nation, newspapers have stopped publishing stories dealing with drug cartels, narco violence or organized crime. Many reporters who have covered such matters have been murdered in recent years:
Drug war terror muzzles much of Mexican press
Milenio reporter executed in Veracruz
Veracruz Press Furious Over Prosecutor’s Comments

The organization Reporteros Sin Fronteras (Reporters Without Borders) said this week that Mexico's dreaded Los Zetas drug cartel presents the greatest threat to freedom of the press in the country..

In 2011 Article 19 filed a legal complaint against Mexico with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that the country had failed to discharge its responsibility to protect the press and electronic media from acts of violence.

A spokesman for Article 19, Omar Rábano, said that in the first three months of 2013 there were 50 reported attacks or threats against journalists in Mexico and three against media installations. One reporter disappeared and another was murdered.

In the second quarter at least one press facility has been targeted (Guadalajara newspaper hit by grenade attack). In April a 22 year old photographer for Vanguardia, a Saltillo, Coahuila newspaper, was kidnapped and murdered. His remains, and those a 23 year old friend, were dumped in plastic bags on a city street several days later. Dismissive comments by Saltillo authorities that the men probably had links to drug trafficking or organized crime infuriated many in the community.

"In reality nothing has changed," said Rábano. "We're still waiting on the new (reduction of violence) strategy of the PRI administration to kick in. It was supposed to give more attention to the protection of journalists."

Mexico's National Commission on Human Rights reports that since 2000, more than 80 journalists have been murdered in this country. Article 19 calculates 73 of those have been clear cut cases of reporters killed because of what they were investigating or what they had written. It says Mexico continues to be "one of the most dangerous countries in the world for the exercise of journalism."

Even though Mexico approved a constitutional amendment in 2012 which federalized most crimes against the press, the "state has been slow to respond" to threats against journalism, Article 19 contends.

"We know that changing the law is only part of the process," said Rábano this week. "Now comes its implementation, and above all, the development of a political will to protect journalists in jeopardy. The government must send a clear message that it is interested in protecting freedom of the press. In the first few months of the new administration, journalism hasn't become any less of a risky business."

Although freedom of the press is guaranteed in the United States by the First Amendment - arguably the most important of the American Bill of Rights - there are no federal press crimes, and offenses against journalists remain common crimes covered by state criminal statutes. But attacks against journalists on U.S. soil have been rare events. The last one to capture national attention was in 1976.

July 1 - Article 19 reports that attacks against the press and freedom of expression rose a dramatic 46% in the first six months of 2013, compared with the same period in 2012. In harsh language, the organization said "the Mexican state has failed in its obligation to guarantee freedom of expression and to punish those who violate this right, thereby leading to an increase of aggressive acts against the press."

May 26 - Threats against the press challenge democracy in Mexico
June 9 - En 13 años, 84 periodistas muertos y 20 desaparecidos

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